PPC Profile: Julian Ware-Lane

Full Name: Julian Gabriel St.John Ware-Lane

Age: 49

From: Born in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex and still live within a mile of my birthplace.

PPC for: Castle Point

Selection Result: I was successful.

Member of the Labour Party Since: 1996

CV:
I joined HM Customs and Excise from school as an Unestablished Clerical Assistant. I left the Civil Service twelve and a half years later as a Higher Executive Officer. Initially my work was of a clerical nature, but promotions and a pass of an aptitude test enabled me to join the computing department. I left the Civil Service to pursue a career as a freelance computer programmer, and this morphed over time into a software tester, a role that I enjoy today.

In the twenty years since leaving HMC&E I have worked at a number of large companies. These include the DSS, BACS, BT, IBM, London Underground, Ford Motor Company, ABN Ambro, Vodafone, UBS, British Gas, BSkyB and First Data. This has entailed working away from home for over nine years in places such as Amsterdam, Livingstone, Newcastle-upon Tyne, Solihull and Norwich.

I was inspired to get into politics because:
From a very early age I used to discuss politics with my very political, and very left-wing, father. I did not get involved with party politics in my younger days, although I did go to a couple of Labour party meetings. I did get involved to some extent with the Anti-Nazi league in the late seventies. I was married in my early twenties and started a family not long after. This, and the need to carve out a career, meant that my involvement with politics was through the ballot box and the occasional debate with friends. In my mid-thirties I decided to put my money where my mouth is and get involved. Three years ago I made a lifestyle change that meant I could devote more time to politics, and to my other love – an involvement with my community.

My main policy interests are:
Electoral reform, the environment, social policy.

3 things that should be in the next Labour manifesto:
1 – Electorial reform
2 – Re-nationalisation of the railways
3 – Electorial reform commitment to help reform some of the EU institutions (the CAP, etc).

I think people should vote for me because:
As a socialist I fully subscribe to the equality agenda and want fairness to be seen in practice, not just used as a soundbite. I believe in rewarding success, but I also believe that there is such a thing as society, and this means the strong supporting the weak. I am comfortable with welfare reform, but encouragement into work must not be seen as a stick. I want the democratic deficit in all its guises tackled and for votes to count – hence my support for proportional representation. I want our trades unions to be strong again (but not the lunacy that engulfed them thirty years ago) and would like to see membership incentivised in some way. I want the environment protected, not just because of climate change but also because a green world is a more pleasant world. I would like to see greener cities and urban spaces generally.

AOB:
I have had a career outside of politics, being a freelance and permanent IT consultant for twenty years. I have been active in sport and still referee over twenty football matches a season. I have also been involved in sports administration and am currently the minutes secretary of a local football league. (In the past I have had involvement with table tennis and cricket as well.) I am a school governor. I am a member of Unite the Union, Amnesty International and the National Trust. My most important and taxing role is as the father of six (one son, five daughters). Within the Labour Party I have had many roles, at branch, CLP, county and regional level. I stood in Rayleigh in 2005 where I came second. I hope to go one better at the next election.

I used to write poetry, and this led to my involvement with music many years ago. I played in a number of punk and indie bands from 1979 to 1984-ish. I rarely pick up a guitar nowadays and have forgotten the chords to God Save The Queen. When not doing politics I am either researching the family tree (talking to dead people is how my wife describes it), battling the weeds in the back garden, eating, or walking. I have a secret love of classic adaptations and my fantasy dinner party would include Jane Austen as well as Charles Darwin, and Richard Ware-Lane (my great great great grandfather – he is invited to help with that family tree).